Falling for You

Rex"This one's on me, sweetheart," I tell the brunette standing in front of me. I throw in a wink for good measure. Her eyes give me a once over, stalling on the tattoos that peek out from under my rolled-up shirt sleeves. Both of my upper arms are covered in tattoos I've designed myself but I've purposely kept my forearms bare. There's no rhyme or reason to it, simply a personal preference."Thanks, Rex," Brooklyn coos. For the last few months, she's been coming in to The Flying Goat, the bar I work at nights and weekends when I'm not glued to my computer, working codes and creating apps. I work for myself which allows me to take on whatever contracts I'm interested in. "Whatcha doing later?" she asks. This isn't the first time and likely won't be the last. Every time, I've turned down her advances but she's persistent."I have an early day tomorrow," I tell her, purposely avoiding her question. If I tell her I don't have plans, she'll jump on the chance to come home with me

Chloe"I've had a really shitty day." That's putting it mildly."Yeah? Want to talk about it?""Why am I in here? Was I bothering the other guests? I'm sorry if I was, I really didn't mean to.""You weren't bothering anyone," he says, leaning a smidge closer."Then why?""I can't tell you that."I scrunch my eyebrows together and rub my bottom lip with the tip of my finger. His eyes follow the movement and I drop my hand."Why not?""Because I don't know," he admits. "I just know that I saw you out there crying and couldn't just stand there.""I'm sorry.""Don't," he snaps. He shakes his head and softens his tone when he continues. "Don't apologize for allowing yourself to feel the effects of whatever is going on in your life. If you need to cry, let it out.""Okay?" The entire conversation is confusing me and I don't know what I'm supposed to say to him. "If I wasn't making a scene, then why did you haul me back here? Am I in trouble for something? I paid fo

Chloe"You taking back your offer of dessert? That's not a nice thing to do to a woman who's had such bad day, you know."Gone is the half smile, replaced with a full one. And damn if it isn't sexy."Now what kind of man would I be if I took away dessert? I'll meet you there, sound good?"I nod once, still unsure what I'm planning to tell my overbearing friends. Okay, so overbearing isn't really the right word since they're just friends. My people who care about me.I feel his eyes on me as I leave the office and I can't help the goofy smile spread across my face by the time I've reached the table where my friends are sitting."Sorry, ladies, I've gotta go see about a guy."They all groan but Ari's the one who speaks up. "You've gotta be shitting me right now. You just gave us a line from Good Will Hunting!""And?""And the cheesy one, too! Besides, Chloe! What the hell?"I shrug. "He invited you guys."Choruses of "Ewww!" and "What a perv!" are shouted as they

Rex"No, you terd." She throws a brownie at me and I catch it and pop it into my mouth."Hey, you were the one who said full service."Another sparkle of happiness pops through the dark. Her face tips down, a long lock of deep red hair falls over her shoulder, which starts to shake before she's laughing so hard a snort slips out. Her head jerks up, eyes wide when she stares at me, hopeful I didn't hear it. Of course I did, though, because I'm paying attention to everything she does."So no happy ending, then. I got it." I don't mention the snort but it's out there and I won't be able to not tease her about it at some point in the future."Well, it's not as if we send our clients out unhappy, though. It's just not that kind of happy ending.""Bummer.""Oh, you frequent those?""If you were my masseuse? Hell yeah, I would. In fact, I'd probably be your most loyal customer."Those deep, dark eyes roll and she takes another bite of The Cookie. I'm glad she's not a woma

ChloeHe laughs, head thrown back. Strong neck, too, I can't help but notice. It's thick and wide with muscles at the base that lead into broad shoulders. Holy shit he's good looking. I don't think I've been in the presence of a man like him before and it makes me all kind of wiggly feeling inside. I don't know what to do with myself.When I got to Balance, I had to sit in my rental car for about fifteen minutes before I came inside. I know this isn't a date but Rex is so far out of my league, it doesn't even feel like I have the right to be sitting at the same table, much less eating with him.It wasn't lost on me that the hostess looked disappointed when I was led to his table. The entire staff was probably hoping he'd been stood up and they could help lick his wounds."I figured you'd call me out on it. I can't help it. I'm a nerd at heart. Love computers. Video games. Technology fascinates me, how it's always advancing. Every day I can learn something new, so I never get